1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a method for evaluating a urine sample, an analyzer, and an analysis system.
2. Description of Related Art
Various proteins are excreted in urine which include a great deal of biological information. Urine containing a relatively high concentration of proteins is called proteinuria. The type of proteinuria can give information about nephropathy. For example, if the amount of albumin in urine is larger than a reference value, the urine can be classified as glomerular proteinuria. If the amount of α1-microglobulin or β2-microglobulin in urine is larger than a reference value, the urine can be classified as tubular proteinuria. See Minoru Sakatsume (“Clinical utility of measurement of urinary protein/albumin”, Journal of Analytical Bio-Science, Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 106-110 (2011)). Moreover, Kiyoko Shiba (“Disease diagnosis with electrophoretic analysis of urinary protein and comprehensive urinary proteome research”, Journal of Analytical Bio-Science, Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 111-119 (2011)) and JP 2009-204465 A1 disclose a method for diagnosing a renal disease state by detecting urinary proteins in a urine sample.
In clinical laboratory tests, a plurality of urine samples are measured by a sample analyzer. For example, a sample analyzer including a sample analysis tool with one or more types of test strips has generally been used (see Hitomi Tsujikawa et al., “Evaluation of novel test strip to measure albumin and creatinine in urine”, Rinsho Byori, 53, pp. 111-117). The test strips may be, e.g., a “protein test strip (pad)” for detecting urinary proteins, an “albumin test strip (pad)” for detecting a trace amount of albumin in urine, and a “creatinine test strip (pad)” for detecting creatinine in urine.